20 June 2017 V I D E O A G E In the two weeks comprising the Upfronts in New York City and the L.A. Screenings in Hollywood, America’s local and national press reviewed the U.S.’s upcoming 2017-18 TV season and in the process outlined their take on the future of television. The New York Times opened the salvo on Monday, May 15, the Upfronts’ opening day for the U.S. broadcast television, declaring that “Viewers’ Eyes May Drift, but Marketers Are Sticking With Broadcast Television,” and followed up with a spacious and pro-broadcast TV article about Linda Yaccarino, NBCUniversal’s head of advertising sales. The next day, The Los Angeles Timesseemed to reinforce the message with a front-cover article in the business page explaining that, “TV networks adapt to ad-skipping viewers,” but, at the same time, the paper’s headline pointed out that “TV advertising [is] in ‘upheaval.’” Then, on Saturday, May 20, in the midst of the studios’ screenings of the new season, both The New York and The Los Angeles Times reports shifted to the quality and genres of the upcoming series. This aspect of the news is usually received with chagrin by the studios, which go to lengths trying not to have buyers get access to critical reviews of the new shows before they have a chance to screen them. For this reason, some studios exclude journalists fromattending screenings, especially those who tend to review the new series. While some publications avoid such restrictions by having international buyers register unfamiliar reporters with the studios, VideoAge is granted screenings privileges from virtually all studios because its L.A. Screenings Studio Issue lists only the synopses of all new series. In its business section, The Los Angeles Times reported, “TV lineups playing it safe,” and gave half a page to the fact that “TV networks are bringing back sitcoms,” focusing on the ABC revival ofRoseanne, a hit from 1988 to 1997, with its original cast. The paper also pointed out that “NBC is bringing backWill & Grace, one of its top comedies from 1998 to 2006,” also with its original cast, and other revivals, such as American Idol (now on ABC and originally on FOX), Dynasty(on the CW) and S.W.A.T. (on CBS). The New York Times too continued its new season’s coverage, but gave it a political twist with, “TV in the Age of Trump,” in the same vein of in VideoAge’s story in its April 2017 Issue announcing the “L.A. Screenings Under the Signs of Rooster [Chinese investments in Hollywood and] Trump.” In its article, theTimessingled out new series with military and religious themes (which tend to be favored by President Trump’s core constituents), such as SEAL Team (CBS), Valor (CW) and The Brave (NBC) for the military, and The Gospel of Kevin (ABC) and By the Book (CBS) for the faithful. On Sunday, May 21, appeared the first bombshell article, courtesy of The Los Angeles Times, with a back-handed compliment declaring, “People who get rid of cable TV might not save money.” And then, theL.A. Screenings’ period closed on Thursday, May 25, with an article inUSA Today pointing out how a channel restructuring by Charter, the second largest cable TV provider in the U.S., would end up costing subscribers more. Both articles indicated that, perhaps, the future is more problematic for cable TV than broadcast television, which today operates with an unprecedented four-tier business model: advertising, retrans fee, SVod and international program sales. U.S.CriticsAgreetoDisagreeontheFutureofTV L.A. Screenings Review Recognized standard of quality in AudioDescription With more than 20,000 television shows, feature films and LIVE shows completed, you can rely on us to deliver your project on budget and on time. Our technical expertise guarantees a top quality product, a commitment we’ve made to our clients for more than 14 years. Request a Quote info@descriptivevideoworks.com descriptivevideoworks.com Descriptive VideoWorks is committed to providing access to all forms of visual media
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